A key Municipality of Anchorage elections official is now the head of a nonprofit group responsible for promoting downtown Anchorage. Anchorage Downtown Partnership announced Monday that Amanda Moser is its new executive director, starting immediately. “Through her tenure, she managed and administered all aspects of Anchorage’s municipal elections for 122 precincts,” partnership officials wrote in a Monday statement. “Amanda was a major factor of creating and successfully implementing the Vote by Mail project for Anchorage.” Moser also worked for the State of Alaska last year, assisting with the coordination of former Gov. Bill Walker’s trade mission to China. “We are thrilled to have found a talented and respected leader with a proven history of involvement in our downtown community,” Holly Spoth-Torres, president of the partnership’s board of directors, said in its statement. “Amanda brings new energy and a collaborative style to our mission of a clean, safe and vital downtown.” To view the article, click here.

1st Look NB Season Premiere: Alaska

September 30, 2018 — 1st Look TV

This is bananas! (Jonny Bananas that is!) We are proud to share the season premiere of 1st Look on NBC in which downtown Anchorage, Anchorage Downtown Partnership and our Downtown Summer Solstice Festival were featured! Thank you to the amazing crew of 1st Look TV who came to film our city and include it in their Alaska Episode! (Anchorage clip is about 5.46 minutes in).

To see 1st Look’s website and other episodes featured on NBC, click HERE.

HOW ARE THEY DIFFERENT? CANDIDATES FOR GOVERNOR GET A MINUTE EACH TO EXPLAIN IN ANCHORAGE FORUM.

SEPTEMBER 14, 2018 — Tegan Hanlon, Anchorage Daily News

ANCHORAGE — Jeffrey Manfull, a long-time Anchorage resident, walked up to the microphone at a downtown forum Thursday evening. In front of him sat three of the candidates for Alaska governor.

Mark Begich, a Democrat who served as a U.S. senator and before that as Anchorage mayor, took the first swing. He’s the only candidate who supports Proposition 1, he said, amid loud cheers and whistles. (Proposition 1 is also known as the Stand for Salmon initiative. It’s set to appear on the Nov. 6 ballot.)

Begich said he’s also the only candidate “that is 100 percent pro-choice.” People in the crowd cheered. Then he paused. He added that he didn’t know the stance of Libertarian candidate Billy Toien, since he believes in less government. (Toien didn’t address the issue in his answer, but he did in a 2010 Anchorage Daily News Q&A. That’s here.)

And, Begich said, he disagreed with Gov. Bill Walker on the John Sturgeon case that the U.S. Supreme Court agreed to reconsider in June. It deals with the federal government’s ability to ban hovercraft in national parks. Begich said he believes it would jeopardize subsistence.

Next: Walker, the incumbent and an independent. He zeroed in on the state’s Alaska LNG project that, he said, will create thousands of jobs. This week, ExxonMobil agreed in a preliminary deal to sell its natural gas to the state-led gas line project.

“I’m the only one in the race that has the experience to be able to finish that project,” Walker said.

Walker said he worried what would happen if the project didn’t get done and “we don’t get our resources developed under our own terms.”

He also said that while he and Lt. Gov. Byron Mallott may disagree on some social issues, that hasn’t kept them from doing the job they need to do. Walker said he is pro-life and Mallott is pro-choice. The reproductive rights that are available in Alaska will not change under their administration, he said.

“Those aren’t issues that caused me to run for this position,” he said. “The issues that caused me to run is I fear for the future of this state economically. I want to make sure our young people will stay in Alaska and they’re not going to stay in Alaska if we don’t have an economy for them.”

It’s critical Alaska has the best economy in the country, he said. The crowd clapped.

Toien, the Libertarian in the race, said that for him, “It’s the state finances and putting them in order.”

“If it weren’t for that, I wouldn’t even be running,” he said. “As I mentioned earlier, I would rather be doing other things.”

Toien said he’s the only candidate “willing to address the whole of the state’s finances.”

The crowd clapped.

Mike Dunleavy, the Republican candidate and a former state senator, was not at Thursday’s forum. Daniel McDonald, a spokesman for the campaign, said Dunleavy was “attending to personal business.” He said he couldn’t give more details.

Thursday night’s forum was hosted by the Anchorage Downtown Partnership and the Community Councils of Downtown and South Addition. Also, Bree’s Law & Victims’ Families and Catholic Social Services co-hosted the forum.

Like previous forums, the evening was relatively low-key and no harsh words were passed between candidates as they took questions from people in the audience, Manfull included.

The evening started with a forum between the candidates for lieutenant governor. Anchorage state Sen. Kevin Meyer, the Republican candidate, was not in attendance. McDonald said he was “attending to personal matters.”

SAN DIEGO — Four years and 160,000 miles after Oceanside native Travis Burke turned his grandma’s 20-year-old camper van into his now-famous mobile adventure photography studio, the van is heading to Alaska.

As the result of his Ultimate Storyteller contest that drew more than 1,000 entries nationwide, Burke chose Mikey Huff of Anchorage as the next owner of the slate-colored van known as “Betty the Grey Wolf.” Huff — who, like Burke, plans to live full-time in the van — runs the Wool Sock Project, which documents the stories of Anchorage’s homeless population. Read the full story HERE.

The Anchorage Downtown Partnership placed a piano in Town Square Park about two weeks ago for fun and “space activation.” The old-school piano is moved out of the Alaska Center for the Performing Arts every morning, and people are welcome to stop and play a tune.

ANCHORAGE (KTUU) — There is a new mural in Downtown Anchorage that was inspired by the classic “Greetings From” postcards.

(Courtesy Victor Ving and Lisa Beggs)

The artists, Victor Ving and Lisa Beggs, have been traveling throughout the U.S. in an RV for the last three years with the goal of creating a mural in each state. The Greetings From Alaska mural is one of 30 the two have created during their travels. Read the full story HERE.

“Downtown turns into one big celebration on June 18, with the Solstice Festival & Hero Games, an Anchorage Downtown Partnership, Ltd. Production, taking over Fourth Avenue and Town Square. Artists, musicians and other performers transform Fourth Avenue into a party…” View the rest here!

“Summer in Alaska can be a magical time. Whether you’re trekking through the stunning wilderness or taking part in one of Alaska’s great events or festivals, you’re in for an unmatched experience…” Read the article here!

“Berkowitz said the Anchorage Downtown Partnership plans to beef up the number of public events in the park and will work with the Anchorage Community Development Authority (ACDA) to offer free parking nearby during certain times of the day to attract people to the park.” View the rest here!

It’s not a new issue in Downtown Anchorage, but a recent video that surfaced on social media is raising questions about Alaska’s drug problem, and whether it’s getting worse. To read the full article, click HERE.

In June, a bright postcard-style mural with the words “Greetings from Alaska” popped up on the east end of downtown Anchorage, brightening up a brown wall on the side of a tourist industry association office.

The mural, created by two traveling artists from the Lower 48, is one of the city’s newest murals. It joins scenes of hummingbirds, a fish camp next to a river, solar flares and snow crystals that adorn school hallways and public and private buildings.

The murals all represent Anchorage’s ever-evolving collection of public art, said Enzina Marrari, the city’s public art curator.

Take a walk through Town Square Park and you’ll notice a brightly painted orange and white striped Piano. A chair sits in front, and a sign reads: “Please Sit Down & Play a Tune!” View the article here!

There’s an effort underway by the Anchorage Downtown Partnership and an owner of two unique buildings on Fourth Avenue between C and E streets to transform the spaces into a bustling marketplace. View the article here!

“Two downtown Anchorage agencies have launched a security hotline that officials say is aimed at cleaning up downtown and helping visitors feel safe and comfortable.” Check out this great article on our Safety First campaign (in conjunction with EasyPark.) View the article here!

In the past we’ve had the salmon walk, we still have the planet walk, and now we have Bears on Parade! Check it out here, and stop by the Visit Anchorage log cabin to get a map of the bears around downtown. View the article here!

“In a news conference at the back of the fountain, where people often curl up in blankets or sleeping bags, Berkowitz said the city will also try to improve the square by boosting the number of police officers patrolling it.” View the rest here!